Automatic door



W. M. COOPER AUTOMATIC DOOR Filed Dec. 19, 1922 IN V ICN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

To all whom it may concern:

Patented Dec. 30, 1924,

NITED STATES WILLIS M. COOPER, OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA.

AUTOMATIC DOOR.

Application filed December '19, 1922. Serial No. 607,879.

Be it known that I, WILLIS M. Coormz, a citizen of the United States, residing at 411' Elm Ave, Norman, in the county of Cleveland and State of Oklahoma, have invented a certain new and useful Invention in Automatic Doors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an automatically operable opening-closure, in particular, and primarily a door for barns, garages, warehouses and similar places where the weight of a vehicle can be used for the purpose of operating the same.- There are various objects of the invention that will appear from a reading of the following specification, and, among the important of which, are those which provide for the opening of the door from pressure, and closing the same by gravity, and depending either on a supplemental lock or the weight of the door for locking the same against entry. An additional object of the invention is to store the opening closure when not in use, out of the way of traffic, and to provide compensating instrumentalities for the operative mechanism, when temperature and climatic conditions change the size or weight of the closure.

As previously stated, other objectsof the invention will appear from a further and more complete reading of the following specification and claim.

- On the sheet of drawings, accompanying and forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 shows the device in closed arrangement, and with side-entry door,

Figure 2 is a plan view of a detail construction, and

Figure 3 is an isometric view of the structure, and partly broken away to indicate detail.

In these several views, similar characters of reference indicate similar parts.

In runways 4 and 5, respectively, forming the jambs for an opening 6, a sectional door 7 is adapted to reciprocate to open and close, at will, at the instance of automatic mechanism, controlled by weight. This sectional door, of whatever construction and material, is adapted to be stored or rolled up on a pair'of studs 8, after passing over an additional pair of secondary studs 9 that assist in guiding the door in proper align ment with the guides 1 and 5.

To the out side or edge of the studs 8 is secured a suitable fastening element 10, flexible in its nature and to which the elements of the sectional door are affixed, to allow ease of rolling or storing. A bearing suitably constructed, and likewise-suitably aflixed, in a manner not shown, to the structural work of the building, and at the up per part thereof, contains the spindles 12 for the studs 8 and the spindles 13, for the rollers 9. The construction of this arrangement, of course, will be of any suitable type best calculated to meet general manufactun ing or constructional requirements.

Upon a shaft 14 suitably journaled in said bearing is a gear 15, that meshes with a pinion 16 that is associated with the spindles 12 of the studs 8. A sheave 17 is then provided on the one spindle 12 and this may be provided with a counter-balance 18 for compensating for inequalities and varied weights in the door 7.

On one end of the spindle 14, the same one carrying the gear 15 is a pinion 19 which is designed to be in mesh with a rack-bar 20, guided inplace, in any suitable manner, as for instance by a roller bearing 21, and this rack bar, one on each side of the door or door operating construction, is suit-ably associated with a. link 22 that goes to the bottom of the opening 6 and there connects with a bar 23 passing through openings 24 in the jamb and reaching across said opening connecting two of such bars or links 22, so that the mechanism andits operation may be in duplicate on each side of the door.

This bar is sufiiciently elevated from the plate or sill of the building to permit of raising and lowering, and to it, in a suitable and an etlicient manner are applied run-ways 25, 26, 27 and 28, two extending to the outside, and two tothe inside of the building.

We will now consider that the door 7 is closed and spent from off the spindles 8. The weight of said door is sufiicien't, ordinarily, to keep it in closed position. A vehicle commencing to climb these runways, in either direction will exert enough pressure on the bar 28 to cause a downward pull on the rack-bars 20, .and this power-movement will be transmitted tothe pinions 19 and gears 15 and to the pinions 16. This will cause the studs 8 to rotate, and the doorelements binder 10 being fastened to these When the vehicle desires exit, the o eration will be repeated in the reverse or er, and the 'door may automatically close after the vehicle has de arted.

As to detai s of construction, herein ex- A pressed it will be understood that the may be changed in any mechanical and e cient way to suit constructional necessit without departing from the spirit of this invention, and as to the nature or construction of the door the same maybe varied at will.

It will now be seen that there is provided an eflicient and effective door for the purposes desired and which can be automatically lifted and lowered by a vehicle intending to pass through said door.

-Having thus described this invention, I-

claim: I 1 1 An automatically operable raising and lowering door for automobile garages consisting of a sectioned door, a roll upon which the door is rolled up and stored and unwound therefrom,- gear mechanism for controlling the movement of the roll, a rack meshing with the gear mechanism, running boards controlling the movement of the rack, vall so that when pressure isput on the running cards the door will raise.

Si edv at Oklahoma City, in the county of O lahoma and State of Oklahoma, this 29th day of November, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and twenty-two.

WILLIS M. COOPER. 

